Bad roads force man in Kerala to switch over to horse-riding

Kochi, Oct 16 (ANI): Kerala, which is fast becoming a hi-tech city and one of the must see tourist destinations in the world, is lacking in basic infrastructure.

To highlight this problem, the President of the Kerala Tennis Association (Emirates) K.M. Noorudeen Mather adapted a novel method of protest in Kochi, riding a horse.

He purchased Manu (name of the horse) from Bangalore for rupees 40,000 with the help of his friend Selveraj, a former jockey and trainer.

Mather, who had to abandon his car after it broke dwon on Kochi’s pot-holed roads, said that his decision ti ride a horse should act as a kind of an eyeopener for officials responsible for keeping the roads in proper condition.

Tourist taxi-driver K. Rajendran also said that he faced tough conditions when driving.

“The roads are in a bad condition. We feel like travelling 500 km after just driving 50 kms,” he said.

“It takes over one hour for travelling, which earlier used to take just 30 minutes,” he added.

Of 1,60,944 km of roads in the state, 28,203 km fall under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department, and around 67 percent of roads fall under jurisdiction of various the village panchayats.

Over 70 per cent of the roads in the state are damaged and unfit for vehicular traffic. Though the government has taken to repair works on a war footing, the monsoon almost always washes it off. By Juhan Samuel (ANI)